Eastern Dealt 98-75 Loss by Portland State in BSC Opener

En route to a 69 percent shooting night, Vikings use a 12-0 run
in the first half and 10-0 surge in the second half to pull
away

It wasn't a good night to have to face the two-time defending
league champions.

The Eastern Washington University men's basketball team had no
answer for the 69 percent shooting night by Portland State and the
Eagles fell to the Vikings 98-75 Saturday (Dec. 5) at the Stott
Center in Portland, Ore. It was the Big Sky Conference opener for
both teams and the earliest it's ever been for the Eagles.

The Vikings made 33-of-48 shots in the game, including a
blistering 16-of-21 in the first half as EWU allowed its most
points this season. Portland State used a 12-0 runs in the first
half to take the lead for good, then scored 10 unanswered points in
the second half to pull away.

The Vikings were coming off an impressive 86-82 victory at
25th-rnaked Portland, a team Eastern narrowly lost to 64-58 on Nov.
14 at home. The Vikings won the Big Sky regular season and
tournament title in 2008, and the tournament title last season to
advance to the NCAA Tournament for a second-straight season. Three
key players are back from last year's squad, and those players are
all averaging double figures in scoring thus far.

"It was a little bit of a struggle for us at times, but we
did score 75 points and shot a respectable percentage," Eastern
head coach Kirk Earlywine said. "But the game was
decided on the other end of the floor, obviously. When you allow a
team to shoot 69 percent you are not going to win. I had our
players so worried about the three-point line that all of our
defensive principles and rules went out the window because we were
trying so hard to take that away. Instead we gave up layins and
dunks."

The Eagles fell to 3-5 with the loss while PSU improved to 3-4
with its second-straight win. Eastern takes a week off for fall
quarter final exams at EWU before hosting Seattle University on
Dec. 12 at 1:05 p.m. at Reese Court in Cheney, Wash.

Freshmen Glen Dean and Jeffrey
Forbes led the Eagles with 17 points each as they combined
for 11-of-13 shooting from the field and 8-of-9 from the free throw
line. Dean also had four assists and Forbes had three.

The Eagles finished the game making 27-of-59 shots from the
field for 46 percent, and made 16-of-21 free throws for 76 percent.

But the real offense belonged to the Vikings and a quartet of
players -- Dominic Waters, Melvin Jones, Julius Thomas and Jamie
Jones. They combined for 75 points on 26-of-37 shooting from the
field and 18-of-23 from the line.

With Eastern having difficultly defending Portland State's ball
screens against EWU's man-to-man defense, Earlywine said playing a
zone against the Vikings was not an option. Portland State made
eight three-pointers in the game after entering the contest
averaging just over nine per game.

"They have too many guys that shoot the ball well," Earlywine
explained. "There are seven or eight different ways you can defend
those ball screens, and I opted to go with one we have already used
and had some familiarity with. But it was a bad decision on my part
and I told the players that I blew this one for them. I will not
let that happen again. There were a couple of non-competitive
moments on the floor, but the majority of this was me."

Eastern led early 10-8, but PSU used a 12-0 run to take the lead
for good. The Vikings led at halftime 44-35.

Eastern stayed within striking distance in the second half, and
trailed just 64-57 mid-way through the half. But the Vikings
responded with a 10-0 run to take a 74-57 advantage with 8:18 to
play. Portland State led by as many as 25 and the closest Eastern
came the rest of the way was 15.

The Dec. 5 start to league play represented the earliest Big Sky
Conference opener in school history. Last year, the Eagles opened
league play on Dec. 6 with a 61-55 home win over Montana State, and
the previous season opened on Dec. 22 with a 58-57 home victory
over Portland State. However, both seasons the Eagles failed to
qualify for the six-team Big Sky Conference Tournament.

Eastern was picked to finish eighth in the league race by both
the media and coaches. The Vikings were selected to finish second
by the media and fourth by the coaches. Eastern will resume league
play on Dec. 31 against Sacramento State.